5 Places to Escape the Crowds in the Lake District

                                                                                         

The path led on into the upper reaches of the valley. The only sound here was the river somewhere below on my left in a rocky ravine where it flowed back down towards the valley floor spreading into a wide alluvial plain. A lone raven soared above the grey crags up to my right and snow blanketed the mountainside higher up. I made my way on up to where the path crossed an ancient stone wall at a stile and was met by a surprise.

On the wall's far side the land was deep in snow - a winter world that extended on up to the remote pass at the head of the valley. The white hillsides were marked here and there by dark rocky outcrops that reminded me of a scene in Norway's Jotunheim, yet this was not the Norwegian Wilderness or even the Scottish Highlands but a relatively unfrequented area of the Lake District National Park only a few miles north of the busy market town of Kendal. I was walking up Longsleddale - a comparatively remote and little visited valley on the eastern fringes of Lakeland. Access is by a single track road and the walk up to Gatescarth Pass on the route to Mardale is overlooked by fells whose names are unfamiliar even to some of the National Park's regular visitors.

The Lake District is my favorite corner of England but such are the charms of the region that it has become something of a victim of its own success. The many beauty spots of Lakeland are contained within a relatively small area which along with the high visitor numbers who come to view them, means that avoiding the crowds and finding the kind of solitude that many of us look for in the hills is not always easy. I have here attempted to list a few of the lesser known corners of the Lake District where though complete solitude is by no means guaranteed, you'll certainly avoid these crowds - unless that is everyone reads this and heads off at the same time! if they do I'll see you in the Cairngorms.

One of my favorite places in the Lakes is the empty region of Upper Eskdale, an area of wild and desolate beauty uncrossed by any roads. This tract of wilderness contains some very lonely and rugged terrain and includes the long walk to Esk Hause as well as some of the best - and least used - ways to Scafell Pike and Bowfell. Trekking up here in a snowstorm one early March day I remember the vast shapes of the giant boulders - Sampson's Stones - suddenly appearing out of the blizzard - a scene so far removed from the tourists eating their ice creams in Bowness that it could have been a different continent.

Still in the South West of Lakeland and nearby, the Duddon Valley above Ulpha is relatively unfrequented though it is accessible to cars - a winding single track road leads to Cockley Beck between the Hard Knott and Wrynose Passes. There is little population up here though, only isolated farmhouses huddle in the shelter of the dale watched over by the highest mountain in England at its head.

You're always likely to be part of the crowd walking up Skiddaw from Keswick by the Tourist Route but chances are you'll have the fell more or less to yourself if you go up from the northern side from the little known Barkbethdale or the Skiddaw House road near Whitewater Dash - what a wonderful name for a waterfall that is - I recently climbed Skiddaw by the Tourist Route with my son Josh, and simply leaving the main track to trek a short distance to Lonscale Fell took us to a fell we had to ourselves. In all probability we were the only people to walk its summit that day when probably over a hundred climbed Skiddaw.

The last one for now is Ennerdale situated between the more popular Wasdale and Buttermere valleys. The circuit of Ennerdale Water provides an enjoyable low level walk if you've been chased off the high tops by the Lakeland weather but to walk in some wonderful remote country, head to the valley's upper reaches where the Black Sail Youth Hostel sits in splendid isolation beneath Pillar and Great Gable. Just getting here involves either a crossing of a mountain pass from one of the neighboring valleys or a tramp of nearly 6 miles up the forestry track through Ennerdale itself. Arriving at your destination is always more satisfying if you've made an effort!

About the author:
Travel writer Pete Buckley is a regular visitor to the English Lake District and runs the mountain walking website easywayup.com where more information can be found on walking in the Lakeland Fells and many other areas. For mountain photography including pictures of Lakeland please visit the Mountain Landscapes photo gallery.


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